50 in '14: #20-25
Dec. 31st, 2014 08:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sakon76Catching up on all the books I've read in recent weeks....
Title: Half Magic
Author: Edward Eager
Length: 208 pages
I picked this up after a recommendation from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
hoshikage. It's pretty much a riff on (and references) the "family of ordinary children meet/find a magical creature/item; hijinks ensue" trope that E. Nesbit is famous for. The book is well written and hangs together, and a couple of the moments are genuinely amusing and/or touching. But I think the Five Children And It books topped the genre for me; this just isn't quite as entertaining.
Verdict: Mostly harmless. Recommended.
Title: American Gods
Author: Neil Gaiman
Length: 736 pages
I'd avoided this one for a few years because reviews tended to warn of elements of horror, which is so Not My Thing. I wish I'd ignored them and read this sooner! Very entertaining, and I'll be hunting down the sort-of sequel and rereading this one.
Verdict: Highly recommended.
Title: Ysabel
Author: Guy Gavriel Kay
Length: 400 pages
A sort of sequel to the Fionavar Tapestry trilogy. I need to go back and reread the trilogy, because it's been too long and I don't remember the relevant characters well enough, but nonetheless I really liked this book. It's not Kay's usual historical fantasy genre, but his descriptions of and research into modern-day Provence nonetheless mostly worked.
Verdict: Recommended
Title: Games Creatures Play
Author: various
Length: 368 pages
An anthology based around the theme of supernatural creatures and games, this works very very well. Though I wanted it because of Seanan McGuire's Incryptid-verse story, I ended up thoroughly enjoying every entry in this book.
Verdict: Highly recommended.
Title: WTF, Evolution!?
Author: Mara Grunbaum
Length: 272 pages
Not so much a novel as a condensation of blog/tumblr posts about the odd turns evolution has taken with some of its creatures, this book was nonetheless entertaining and educational. I have it in mind as a gift for certain people I know.
Verdict: Recommended.
Title: A Christmas Carol
Author: Charles Dickens
Length: 92 pages
I realized this year that though I have seen many filmed versions of A Christmas Carol, I'd never actually sat down to read the text. So I did. Now, I'm not all that fond of Dickens, and in places it shows that he was paid by the word. But there were moments of breathless brevity in the story which were glorious to behold. And somehow (for me, at least) reading the written words makes the story sink in even deeper and seem less trite and saccharine. So I'm glad I did.
Verdict: Recommended.
Title: Half Magic
Author: Edward Eager
Length: 208 pages
I picked this up after a recommendation from
hoshikage. It's pretty much a riff on (and references) the "family of ordinary children meet/find a magical creature/item; hijinks ensue" trope that E. Nesbit is famous for. The book is well written and hangs together, and a couple of the moments are genuinely amusing and/or touching. But I think the Five Children And It books topped the genre for me; this just isn't quite as entertaining.Verdict: Mostly harmless. Recommended.
Title: American Gods
Author: Neil Gaiman
Length: 736 pages
I'd avoided this one for a few years because reviews tended to warn of elements of horror, which is so Not My Thing. I wish I'd ignored them and read this sooner! Very entertaining, and I'll be hunting down the sort-of sequel and rereading this one.
Verdict: Highly recommended.
Title: Ysabel
Author: Guy Gavriel Kay
Length: 400 pages
A sort of sequel to the Fionavar Tapestry trilogy. I need to go back and reread the trilogy, because it's been too long and I don't remember the relevant characters well enough, but nonetheless I really liked this book. It's not Kay's usual historical fantasy genre, but his descriptions of and research into modern-day Provence nonetheless mostly worked.
Verdict: Recommended
Title: Games Creatures Play
Author: various
Length: 368 pages
An anthology based around the theme of supernatural creatures and games, this works very very well. Though I wanted it because of Seanan McGuire's Incryptid-verse story, I ended up thoroughly enjoying every entry in this book.
Verdict: Highly recommended.
Title: WTF, Evolution!?
Author: Mara Grunbaum
Length: 272 pages
Not so much a novel as a condensation of blog/tumblr posts about the odd turns evolution has taken with some of its creatures, this book was nonetheless entertaining and educational. I have it in mind as a gift for certain people I know.
Verdict: Recommended.
Title: A Christmas Carol
Author: Charles Dickens
Length: 92 pages
I realized this year that though I have seen many filmed versions of A Christmas Carol, I'd never actually sat down to read the text. So I did. Now, I'm not all that fond of Dickens, and in places it shows that he was paid by the word. But there were moments of breathless brevity in the story which were glorious to behold. And somehow (for me, at least) reading the written words makes the story sink in even deeper and seem less trite and saccharine. So I'm glad I did.
Verdict: Recommended.
